The Creative Method

I have been working to take the mystery out of creativity in my art classroom.  When I think about my own creativity as an artist, and they way other artists come up with ideas, it seems less magical than our society makes it seem. As an artist, I think on ideas for a long time. I research, I dream about it, I talk to people, I sketch, I research some more, and I change my idea several times before I have success.  My students seem to think that people are born with a creative ability, or they are not.  If they were not, they thought, "why even try".  I know this is not true, and that all my students can achieve some level of creativity.  To take the mystery out of creativity I devised a creative method, using different ideas I have seen on creativity.  My students apply this creative method when they are creating within our TAB (Teaching for Artistic Behavior) based curriculum.  My students design their own art projects, and work on them for several days in class.  During their projects, they follow the creative method.  1/2 way through their project, they stop to meet with their table teams to do #6 Evaluate to be sure they are on a good track, and see where they can make adjustments while they still have time to do so.

I use the example of a chainsaw artist at a chainsaw carving competition to explain this creative method to my students:  1.Goal/Problem: The carver wants to win the carving competition  2.The carver thinks of possible ideas for a sculpture, and researches anatomy of animals and does some sketches  3.Parameters/Limitations: the carver only gets one log, the tools they bring, and they have a time limit  4.Now that they are at the competition, and they draw their log (in a lottery) they have to finalize their idea, make sure it will fit the log, choose the best plan  5.Try it: the carver starts and completes the carving (there may be some self evaluation along the way)  6. Evaluate: At the end the judges Evaluate the carving and give the carver feedback  7.Start Again: If the carver didn't win, they would evaluate their scores, and their carving, make adjustments, practice more, go to another competition and try again.

Changing a culture is tough, and our culture believes that creativity is only for a certain group, and it's not true; creativity has no bounds, and is useful in most every profession.  Lets foster creativity in our students, and help them be the creative, innovators they have the potential to be.  Ease their fears, take the mystery out of creativity, and let them know that creativity is for everyone!